NG 48

New game 48 is now available.


Round 1: M E G E T W R T O

We start out with some duplication, a trend that will continue throughout the night.  I had MEET, MERGE, WETTER, and METEOR / REMOTE.

Six is the limit; the others are GETTER and GEMOTE (variant spelling of GEMOT: "a meeting or an assembly in Anglo-Saxon England, as for judicial or legislative purposes").

My selection: METEOR


Round 2: N I R N E A D N O

I had NINE, INNER, RAINED, and ANDIRON ("one of a pair of metallic stands used to support wood in an open fire").

The other seven here is one I've mentioned serveral times before, although I did not see it this time: ANEROID ("using no fluid", and also a type of barometer).

My selection: ANDIRON


Round 3: Target 843 from 50 75 2 5 3 7

My first thought was noticing that the target is 840 + 3, where 840 = 7*120.  The result was the solution 843 = 7*(75 + 50 - 5) + 3.  Then I looked at the standard method and realised that 7 from 850 is probably a more tempting option.  That said, it took me a while to find a method for 850, and I ended up with the awkward 843 = 2*(5*75 + 50) - 7.

Just now I saw another option which feels more natural: 843 = (75/5 + 2)*50 - 7.

My selection: 843 = 7*(75 + 50 - 5) + 3


Round 4: K E E C T E B S O

I had BECK (an old term for a brook) and SOCKET.  I wondered about BECKET (and thus BECKETS), but had not heard of it.

Later checking confirmed the validity of BECKET ("a fitting on a pulley block for securing a rope") and thus BECKETS is the seven here.  It seems to be the only one; the other sixes are BOSKET ("a grove; a thicket"; it can also be spelled BOSQUET) and KETOSE ("any of the sugars which have a ketone group or its equivalent").

My selection: SOCKET


Round 5: A R O R H S I S L

I had ROAR, ROARS, ORRIS (a type of plant), and SAILORS.  It seems like that has turned up a few times recently.

The other seven is SIRRAHS (SIRRAH: "Archaic (a term of address used to inferiors in impatience, contempt, etc.)".  I'm not sure why this qualifies as a noun instead of an interjection like ALOHA, but there it is.

The sixes are SAILOR, SIRRAH, SHOALS, ASSOIL ("to absolve; acquit; pardon"), and SHIRRS (SHIRR: "to draw up or gather (cloth) on parallel threads").

My selection: SAILORS


Round 6: Target 395 from 25 75 100 6 10 2

I started by trying to get to 400, and observed that the difference of 5 could be made from the 10 and 2.  It turned out that the 6 was good enough and the resulting solution was 395 = 6*(75 - 25) + 100 - 10/2.  Then I looked at getting there from 450 and found that could be made to work: 395 = 6*75 - (100 + 10)/2.  My final consideration was to try and make it as 320 + 75, and that worked out nicely also: 395 = (100/25)*(6 + 2)*10 + 75.

My selection: 395 = 6*75 - (100 + 10)/2


Round 7: J U H O T E R M O

I had OTHER, MOTHER, and wondered about MOUTHER but correctly rejected it.

Six seems to be the limit again; the others are HOOTER and MOOTER (MOOT: "to bring forward (any point, subject, project, etc.) for discussion").

My selection: MOTHER


Round 8: Target 458 from 100 50 75 7 2 1

Oh, dear, I had an issue here.  Obviously it would be nice to keep the 7 and 1 aside and make 450 from the rest, but somehow I erred.  I wrote down a fallback one-away 457 = (2 + 1)*(100 + 50) + 7, and then one away in the other direction with 459 = (7 + 2)*(50 + 1), but that was it.

After time I saw that the original aim worked after all with 458 = 2*(100 + 75 + 50) + 7 + 1.  What makes this particularly annoying is that I had considered precisely this formula within time, but somehow miscalculated it as not reaching the target.  Grrr.

There's exactly one other solution, the rather unlikely 458 = (7*(100 - 2) + 1)*50/75.

My selection: 457 = (2 + 1)*(100 + 50) + 7


Round 9: PRONE POUT

I got a bit distracted by the OUT- fragment, but ended up finding OPPORTUNE at the 13.1s mark.

My selection: OPPORTUNE (13.1s)


A difficult game this week, with it being hard to do better than six in the letters rounds as a result of considerable duplication.